Dan Hammel
Business manager and financial secretary of International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 704TH executive editor
TH: What line of work were your parents involved in?
DH: Well, first of all my dad was in the Army Air Corps. He was in the Second World War, primarily stationed in London. He worked at Flexsteel most of his life - all of his life, really. He passed away in 1985. But he was also involved in the union while he was out there. He was an assistant to the president. My mother (Esther) grew up in Fairplay, Wis., over there by Sinsinawa Mound. She worked at Molo companies. She never worked after they got married in '43. She was a homemaker all of her life.
TH: As far as contracts with some of these contractors - with Barnstead and so on - are you currently in negotiations with any of those right now?
DH: Not right now, no.
TH: Do you have any coming up in the next few months?
DH: No, I don't have any. In fact, I don't have any coming up until next year. We're good to go for awhile here.
TH: Wow! What do you do to fill your day? What's the deal?
DH: I've got plenty to do, believe me.
TH: Your members are not as affected by the change of seasons as maybe some of the other crafts.
DH: That's true. The electricians, the plumbers, sheet metal workers seem to work pretty much year-around. The weather don't affect them a whole lot. It does somewhat. Unlike, naturally, the iron workers, the carpenters, the cement masons, bricklayers. Yeah, the weather's really definitely going to affect them. But there again, that's just part of being in the construction industry really.
TH: You mentioned the Dubuque Area Labor-Management Council. You're a board member and the current treasurer. You've been active in that from the start?
DH: Well, I'm the only original one left. We started with seven people. Three employers and four labor people, and I was on the original when we set it up in 1987.
TH: How important is a group like that in this community?
DH: It's a must. We have to have it. I think there's still some unions - a few of them - that really maybe that don't believe in it. We're never going to get some people to think that it's a good thing, I guess. There's some employers that kind of look at it as, "What's the use?" But I think that it's grown over the years. There's a lot of labor-management councils throughout Iowa and throughout the country that have went by the wayside after three or four years attempting to get something accomplished. Our council started in '87, and I think it's growing strong. I think one person you can attribute a lot of it to - we never had an executive director until I believe it was 1991, even though we started in '87, actually officially '88. Chuck Isenhart. I mean, he's kind of held things together. We've had a few minor battles over the years. But I think that a lot of the city officials - even Mike Van Milligen is on the board and in fact he's past co-chair. I think that a lot of people think that it's a good thing. I mean, we put on seminars for both sides on filing grievances, whether union or management. Put on all kinds of different educational classes. What can we do about the health care crisis? A lot of it is put on by the FMCS (Federal Mediation & Conciliation Service). We've got an awards banquet. The Summerfest; I'm running a beer booth, plus I've got a food tent. Anyway, the money raised there is 100 percent going to scholarships for kids. So, there's really some good things. And that word, labor-management, sticks out there. That was started right after the black eyes a few got. There was a big strike out at Deere's. They were having problems out at the packing house. Somebody says, "Hey, why don't we get together here?" I'll tell you who it was. Bruce Merriwether played a big part, and so did Dan Dittemore. Arnie Honkamp came to a few of us in labor and says, "Hey, why can't we get (it) together? You know, a little bit here and see if we can't do something."
TH: Has Dubuque's reputation as a "union town," if you will, changed through the Labor-Management Council, or just with the...
DH: I don't know if that's changed so much. I think an employer coming from outside looking in ... Like Rick Dickinson says - I'll kind of steal his words - and I sit on the Greater Dubuque Development Corp. Any business coming in, the first thing is they're looking at - they're not really moving to someplace else unless they can get it done cheaper. The attractive part about Dubuque is the fact that, yeah, maybe part of it is that labor and management's got a good working relationship, although I don't think that there's any employer out there that's going to move to Dubuque because, "Hey, Dubuque's a strong union town." But I do think that Dubuque's got a reputation of having a very, very good work ethic. The city in the last 10 years has magnified as far as looks and what's gone on down at the harbor and everything. We've got three super colleges, a community college. I think it's a safe place. I think all that combined in the enticement for somebody to move in here. But there again, the work ethic. TH: What are your immediate goals for the local here? What's high on your agenda?
DH: I don't know if there's any one thing that's high. I think it's a combination. And that is to continue to make the membership grow. Continue to work with the employers, all the employers, to secure jobs for our members. If there is any one goal, of course, I'm concerned about this dam over here. I don't know which way it's going to go. I take a lot of this stuff personally. I just hope at the end of next year, the spring of 2007, that the Royster-Clark project (in East Dubuque, Ill.) goes through. That's just a huge, huge undertaking over there. It would be a lot - 2,000, 2,500 construction jobs over two, 21/2 years. When everything is said and done, they're going to add 100, 150 permanent jobs over there, too. One of my goals is to continue to work and stay involved with that. I don't think you can get anywhere without having a good working relationship with the employers. You have to work with the employers. It used to be back in the old days, and maybe even when I started out as an electrician, a lot of it was you sit across the bargaining table and there was demands on both sides and everything. I think now, the union and the employer have got to work together. They've got to be on the same page because they can accomplish things together, just like the Labor-Management Council does, maybe in a little different way.
TH: I'm hearing that that is a challenge in your job. You want to serve and be in touch with your members, but on the other hand, you know to get things done, it's different than it was when you first got started.
DH: That's right, yeah. Still got to represent the members, that's for sure. That's the top priority. But you're also representing the members, whether they believe it or not, by having that good relationship with that employer. And a lot of time, they might even say, "Well, you're sleeping with the company." Well, it might be sleeping with the company a little bit, but only to secure your job, to make things go right. Not that I'm ever sleeping with the company, but it's just the fact that you've got to have a good relationship with them.
TH: What do you like to do in your spare time?
DH: Actually, I played ball fast-pitch softball for about 30 years. Well, I don't do that anymore - because of my age, I suppose. I bowled for probably about 30 years. I gave that up about five years ago. I just can't compete with the youngsters anymore. I do like to play golf, when I get out there. I enjoy a game of Euchre every now and then. I have walked probably over maybe the last 10 years. On and off, I walk. Right now, I'm kind of out of that. But I want to get back into it again.